Why GSRA?
Because GSRA Advisors Produce Results!
Meet the GSRA Advisor Team
Meet
the GSRA
Advisor
Team
Mark S. Kopenski
President, GSRA
Mark S.
Kopenski
President, GSRA
Top performing Head of Enrollment in the field of Higher Education (currently President of Global Student Recruitment Advisors) with an outstanding record of achievement enhancing the brand and revenues of established and growth academic enterprises.
Extensive experience gained both domestically in the USA and overseas, including ten years in the UK, also managing satellite admission programs in new and emergent markets including BRIC, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Combines high levels of commercial acuity identifying new channels to market with exceptional skills analyzing change priorities for improving operational performance and efficiency.A very versatile, results driven and politically astute individual, offering strong business leadership.
GSRA has established a robust portfolio of clients over the firms ten-year history. During these unprecedented times, GSRA Advisors continue to provide support, value and innovation to ensure clients survive and thrive. To see who GSRA is serving, please visit https://gsra.org.uk/clients/
Mark S.
Kopenski
President, GSRA
Top performing Head of Enrollment in the field of Higher Education (currently President of Global Student Recruitment Advisors) with an outstanding record of achievement enhancing the brand and revenues of established and growth academic enterprises.
Extensive experience gained both domestically in the USA and overseas, including ten years in the UK, also managing satellite admission programs in new and emergent markets including BRIC, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Combines high levels of commercial acuity identifying new channels to market with exceptional skills analyzing change priorities for improving operational performance and efficiency.A very versatile, results driven and politically astute individual, offering strong business leadership.
GSRA has established a robust portfolio of clients over the firms ten-year history. During these unprecedented times, GSRA Advisors continue to provide support, value and innovation to ensure clients survive and thrive. To see who GSRA is serving, please visit https://gsra.org.uk/clients/
- 180 Years of Combined International Higher Education Experience
- Over 70 Clients Globally
- Results not Reports
- Globally Connected
GSRA History
While working on his doctrate degree in Business Administration at the University of Bath, England, founder and CEO Mark S. Kopenski established Global Student Recruitment Advisors. GSRA was originially concieved to provide advising services to UK and US institutions looking to internationalize their campuses through the attraction of students, faculty and staff from around the globe.
Kopenski’s vision was/is to provide advising support that reaches far beyond analysis, reports and plans. Kopenski, and his team of GSRA Advisors have a reputation for rolling up their sleves and fully engaging with their clients to ensure results are achieved. GSRA’s moto is “No project is complete until the desired results are achieved.”
- Established in 2011
- 33+ Active Global Locations
- 70+ Clients Served
- Number of Advisors - 12
GSRA ADVISORS
GSRA
ADVISORS
Lee Westphal
GSRA Global Advisor and Government Relations
With 25 years of international experience in multiple industries from defense contracting to faith based non-profit, NGO, and international business development, Lee’s vast exposure across industries gives him unique expertise and insight into the best practices of international education and business. His business experience includes providing a payment solution for international students and US institutions, through Western Union, where he served as Senior Business Development Manager for the K-12 Academy and Language School market, as well as the Community College and University sector. His most recent progressive experiences in higher education have included enrollment management consulting at Wilkes University, and directing international recruitment at the new American University of Malta, (AUM) where he also served as public relations representative and university liason to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Maltese Diplomatic Corps, meeting regularly with regional diplomats for immigration issues.
Prior to AUM he served as assistant director of international recruitment and admissions for the University of Nebraska at Omaha, he also directed the international programs at Bellevue University in Nebraska. As a seasoned professional in higher education, Lee enjoys building relationships and is skilled at developing and maintaining partnerships. He enjoys strategic collaboration and tracking emerging markets. With work experience in over 30 countries on 4 different continents, Lee brings intercultural intelligence training and experience to the table, along with practical experience in intercultural relationships. His international career, his more than fifteen years of living in the Middle East and Europe, and personal friendships with individuals from across the globe have contributed to his passion as a global citizen. Lee’s wife Kelli is also in higher education, and they share the passion for global community engagement, while currently residing in the Midwest.
Nichole Barbe
GSRA Advisor
Before making her home in New York City where she is currently based, she lived for a number of years in France, where she began her career working in international study abroad and partnership development. From France she came to New York and worked as Director of a leading ESL school based in NYC and Miami, overseeing admissions, recruitment and international student services, before joining New York Institute of Technology in 2015. She has presented at AIRC and NAFSA regional conferences and has sat on the programming committee for the Study New York association.
Her passion for international education is echoed throughout her undergraduate, graduate and professional careers. Nichole holds an M.Ed. in international teaching and education from Framingham State University, is bilingual in English and French and in total she has travelled, studied, recruited, and built partner relations in over 30 countries to date (with hopefully more to come!).
Nichole’s strengths lie in the development and execution of strategic enrollment plans for domestic graduate and international graduate and undergraduate populations, including marketing and communication plan development, building brand awareness in new and emerging markets, B2B business development, SEVP and immigration compliance, credential evaluation, creation of academic and ESL pathway programs and global academic agreement development.
Paul D'Alessandro
GSRA Global Advisor
Paul founded D’Alessandro, Inc. in 1994 and has advised hundreds of clients on nonprofit management and capital campaigns ranging in goals from $1 million to multi-billions in his 25+ year career. Because he is directly responsible for campaign success and believes in “hands on” counsel, Paul has made more than 4,000 personal solicitation calls with resulting gifts ranging from $1,000 to $10 million.
He began his fundraising career as a Regional Director of Development for the University of Notre Dame’s Strategic Moment Campaign. Paul received his BBA from the University of Notre Dame and his Juris Doctor from St. John’s University School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in Florida, New York and New Jersey, and he is a Certified Fund Raising Executive.
Michelle Hughes
Global Students Recruitment Advisor
Michelle graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2019 with a degree in public relations and a minor in business administration. Prior to GSRA, she worked as an account coordinator for DKC, a PR agency in New York City. During her undergraduate years, she was the president of Her Campus, an on-campus media organization, where she led a team of 50+ undergraduate women and helped brands—such as L'Oreal and Emergen-C—connect with students.
Although Michelle did not study abroad, she went to elementary and middle school in London, England and believes in the importance of learning from different perspectives and cultures. She has travelled to 20 countries and is excited to help others learn in other parts of the world through the help of GSRA.
Her experiences have helped her earn specialties in client liaison, writing, and event planning and uses these to help clients spread their mission and ideas.
Chris Curl
UK Independent Schools Selection Advisor
Chris has a wealth of broad experience from working in the UK for over 30 years at Independent Schools (students aged from 3-18) and at University. He is interested in taking on projects including partnerships and placements with British Schools and Universities. He offers informed advice and insight into UK Education as well as ongoing mentoring services for students and leaders.
He lives in England, having been educated at The King’s School, Canterbury. Chris gained a BEd, specialising in English and Drama, from Exeter University before completing an MA in Language in Education at the University of East Anglia. He also has a TEFL qualification from the University of Kent. For many years he taught international students and was the Course and Centre Director at Summer Language Schools, based at British boarding schools. He has also taught business people in Madrid where he ran seminars on British Politics.
After his first teaching role he accepted a Fellowship in Management Studies at the Institute of Education at London University where he also tutored and mentored PGCE students, supervising their Teaching Practice.
He has worked in eight independent schools including The Junior King’s School, Canterbury and Haileybury where part of his role as Head of English was to prepare children for scholarships to Eton. After some years as a senior leader, which included programming co-curricular activities, directing musical and dramatic productions and overseeing boarding, Chris became a Headmaster. He was a Head for 16 years successfully leading 4 independent schools, expanding pupil numbers, masterminding building programmes and raising standards, achieving outstanding results.
He believes that learning new things should be fun, when possible, and treats each person individually helping them to achieve their potential. As an experienced leader he also enjoys coaching and motivating people - including aspiring leaders. From his passion to see each individual and institution achieve their very best, and to make a very real difference for them, Chris qualified as a “Motivational Map” practitioner. He now assesses current motivation levels as well as what drives and sparks each individual and then, through feedback, assists in identifying next steps. This is particularly beneficial for staff teams in education or business as he can also create and analyse an overview for the leaders which can then lead to higher performance levels and greater productivity.
Away from teaching Chris exercises daily as he is passionate about health and fitness - he eats healthily though has a weakness for “proper” coffee and chocolate!
Nick Love
GSRA Digital Marketing Advisor
Graduating from Wright State University with his Bachelors followed by his Masters degree at Michigan State University, Nick Love has been involved professionally in social media and digital marketing for 5 years, and for even longer if you include his personal investments. He has worked both for major brands and start-ups, and also has agency experience working with up to 20 clients at a time. All of this with companies with vastly different industries, showing his ability to be flexible and adaptable.
His deep understanding of various audience needs and interactions, and an active practical knowledge of how to best use all the major platforms means he has the ability to both plan and react to the needs of the company. As someone who actively follows social media developments and trends, he has been perfectly placed to be an early adopter of new technology.
He currently assists GSRA with any of their digital and online needs, including keeping this website up-to-date.
Nate Cronk
Education & Enrollment Copywriter
When you get the message right, results follow. Too many universities focus on visual branding and not on the core message.
Nate Cronk is a former Director of Admissions turned copywriter. He has directly recruited all student populations: international, freshman, transfer, and graduate. His direct experience in enrollment management means he knows your world.
Let him help you write copy that converts prospective students. His services include brand strategy, website copy, SEO blog posts, email marketing, and video scripts.
To determine which services you need, he asks two questions:
- Where in your enrollment do funnel you need the most help?
- What are your specific enrollment goals by population?
It’s time to do away with higher ed catchphrases and start standing out. If you need help identifying and communicating your core message, Nate can help.
Anish Ashokan
Marketing and Information Technology Guru | Sub Continent Expert | MD of Admissions Guru
With more than 10 years of experience in the field of education, my focus is build a bridging relationship with various Universities worldwide and the students of varied ethnicity ergo promoting a brighter future globally. My forte is a combination of technological and people skills which can bring about, the best with the people I work with. My major focus market would be the Indian Sub-continet where ``Admissions Guru``, the company I manage, was founded in 2018. I've also worked with multiple major universities for their marketing requirement and other needs related to technology.